Later in her career Mary Cassatt often painted the theme of a little girl wearing an oversized hat
in poses similar to this one. However this child's serious expression sets the painting apart from
other portraits. Most of the girls in Cassatt's paintings of children in hats appear to be willing
and happy models; they smile and wear elaborate bonnets and frilly dresses. In Child in a Straw
Hat, the little girl wears a plain, gray pinafore and a large, simple straw hat. Her furrowed brow
and protruding upper lip suggest that she is impatient; she may have been taken away from her play in
order to pose.